Ernest of Saxony held the Archbishopric of Magdeburg from 1476 to 1513 — an unusually long tenure that coincided with the final decades before the Reformation tore the ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire apart. Magdeburg was among the wealthiest church territories on the Elbe, and its mint operated with considerable autonomy under Ernest, producing small-denomination silver for local commercial circulation.
At 0.37 g, these pieces were struck from heavily debased silver, reflecting the broader Pfennig debasement that plagued northern German ecclesiastical mints in the late 15th century.
Ernest of Saxony held the Archbishopric of Magdeburg from 1476 to 1513 — an unusually long tenure that coincided with the final decades before the Reformation tore the ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire apart. Magdeburg was among the wealthiest church territories on the Elbe, and its mint operated with considerable autonomy under Ernest, producing small-denomination silver for local commercial circulation.
At 0.37 g, these pieces were struck from heavily debased silver, reflecting the broader Pfennig debasement that plagued northern German ecclesiastical mints in the late 15th century.